A blog about writing, poetry, short stories and posts of writing in process or completed.

Thursday, October 1, 2015

Writing Prompts ~ 3 ~

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then shouldn't we be writing those words down somewhere? Every time I see a beautiful scene or picture of just about anything, my mind wanders. A story forms or I become inspired to write about it or describe it. Writing prompts can be a way to trigger or inspire words from anyone, most especially writers. It's a great way to practice or even try a different style of writing. I like to use prompts to help me get started on stories.When my daughter was very small, she would get a story before bed. Most of these were made up and most were inspired by an idea or character that she would ask for. Some things she'd ask me to tell a story about include, a particular Disney Princess, the board game Candy Land, and Strawberry Shortcake (from the children's cartoon show). Many of my poems have been inspired by images, nature, or pictures. Others have been inspired by a person or a particular trait of someone I know, like my grandmothers laugh. I have been very lax in writing poetry lately because I was working on writing stories about my uncle who passed away recently. As my thoughts wandered to all the memories lurking in my brain and heart about my uncle, I decided that the best way for me to mourn him was to write them down.The stories about my uncle are on my Wattpad account in a new work called "Choose to Smile." Here's an excerpt:

CHOOSE TO SMILE

Every year, around Easter, my family would drive out to visit them. My brother Keith, my Grandma Bang, and one parent would go along with either me or my sister (we had to take turns).

New Hampshire was like a dream when I got to go. On my very first trip I slept in the spare room all by myself. That first morning I remember waking to strange noises outside my window. The sound was rustly and crunchy and huffy. I lay in bed listening for a while until my imagination and curiosity could not be held back another minute. I climbed up to look out and saw three horses wandering around outside my window. They were nibbling at the ground and pushing at each other. They huffed out their noses as though the air was too cold. Finally they sauntered out toward the street.

I knocked shyly at my uncle's bedroom door and said, in an almost unheard voice, "There's horses outside my window. Can I go see 'em?"

All I heard was excited voices from behind the door. In a flash, my Uncle and Aunt were both bolting out the front door in coats and boots.

"Louise, what's happening, honey?" My Dad asked in the dark hallway.

"Daddy, there are three horses outside! Can I go see 'em?" I asked sweetly.

The next thing I knew, my Dad was running toward the door with boots and a coat too. Apparently, the horses weren't supposed to be walking around outside the house.

HALLOWEEN WRITING PROMPTSo, writing prompts can come from anywhere and your response to them can take many forms. As usual, I'd like to present another picture writing prompt. I hope this isn't too scary for you, but it is the Halloween season, after all.

How does this image inspire you? Write 150 words story or 3-4 stanza poem from this image. Hopefully you will post this in the comments below and share with me and others. Here is my offering from this image:

She’s finally left,
thought the evil presence behind the wall.
Slithering toward the mirror, tap, tap, thud, thud, harder and harder it
knocked on the wall. One small crack was
all it needed to penetrate the other side and escape. First the wall, then the mirror gave way to
the insistent efforts.

An icy chill emanated from the fractured hole with razor
sharp edges. Slowly, the image of evil
appeared from behind the wall. Staring
out from an abyss of darkness, the grayish creature had a visage of resentment
and hatred.

Noises came from outside the room.

Now’s my chance,
thought the entity, slinking back into darkness.

Bursting into the room, a tall, thin and lovely woman
dressed in a flowing organdy gown covered in lace and pearls fairly floated
toward the mirror, humming. Seeing nothing
amiss, she placed a vase of flowers directly beneath it on a table.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

That was fun to do. I hope you like my interpretation. Please keep writing. Use prompts if needed to keep you going. Also, please share your writing prompt offerings in the comments so others may enjoy them.